


Corrupt Data

by sleepykit



Category: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Genre: Gen, computer glitch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:55:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28096524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepykit/pseuds/sleepykit
Summary: A minor data corruption issue causes Murderbot a whole lot of trouble.
Relationships: Asshole Research Transport & Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 47





	Corrupt Data

**Author's Note:**

> This has now taken up room in my head, rent-free.  
> The idea came up in the Murderbot Discord and took on a life of its own.

ART and I were watching a new serial when my communications array malfunctioned. The drama series was decent, if entirely unrealistic, and it had several spunky heroes who rescued everyone. I liked them the same way ART liked the show’s vastly overpowered ship.

When it was time to meet with the rest of the crew, I got up from the couch and headed for the lounge door.

"More when you get back?" ART asked me.

I went to answer that I might not be back for a couple of days, which ART knew because it had its crew's entire schedule, but all that came out was garbage data. I tried the feed and got much the same results.

It was actually irritating.

Running a quick diagnostic revealed thousands of errors in my comm module, and the tool narrowed the problem down to corrupt storage on one of my functional partitions. The broken bit of storage housed critical processing components, and that only made me more irritated.

_What was that?_ ART's attention was now directed at me, full force, like it was trying to stare holes into my forehead, and it was uncomfortable.

I sent it the diagnostic results, but my comms managed to garble that, too. About the only thing they couldn't mess up was visual data -- so long as it was wordless -- and sigils. I made a little video of what the fuck was wrong and sent that to ART instead, just so it would shut up.

_Huh._

I sent it an image of a giant question mark.

_It looks like the data corruption nearly destroyed your communication subroutines,_ the transport explained. It didn’t sound sarcastic, which worried me. _You’ll want to segment the faulty partition off completely before something else vital accidentally gets transferred there._ Then it added, _I’ll write you a quick patch to fix the comms module._

I rolled my eyes at the ceiling even though I’m aware ART isn’t up there. It was a habit by then. I can deal with my own errors, although the transport would definitely write code quicker than I could. 

_You'll have to let me into your head,_ it told me as it pulled up a shared workspace where it could look over the broken code segments. _It should take me about an hour to build a patch._

An hour I didn't technically have because ART's crew was about to meet with a CR representative and wanted me there in case things turned ugly. I gave ART access, and it dumped the relevant code fragments into our shared space. It didn't look healthy -- I could tell without even digging into it. Thankfully, I didn't need to talk to look menacing, which is what ART's crew needed from me for the next day or two.

_I'll tell Seth you won't make it._

I shook my head no and kept walking.

_This is a terrible idea,_ ART warned me. _You shouldn't be working while dealing with data corruption. Let me fix this first. My crew won't mind waiting a little while or getting started without you. It's not like you take sick days._

I shook my head again.

_I'll tell Dr. Mensah._

I stared at the nearest camera and gave ART the middle finger.

Mensah, Amena, and Pin-Lee were currently aboard to help deal with whatever CR machinations were causing New Tidelands grief. I didn't know any of the details and honestly didn't care.

_How about a couple of Sanctuary Moon episodes?_

"No!" Gibberish still came out, but it was exactly two letters long so ART would have a pretty good idea of my opinion. "Ga!"

In either case, I wasn't going to be talking to anyone for the next hour. I was pretending to be a SecUnit, and we didn't talk to clients much. I started a background process to isolate the faulty storage and made my way to the external airlock where we were all meeting.

Dr. Mensah stopped me in the hall outside the mess hall. She looked worried and upset, and I was pretty sure that was my fault somehow. "The Perihelion tells me you're not feeling well."

I shrugged.

"Are you sure you should be going on a mission?" She frowned at me. "It's all right to take a few hours of personal time and get fixed up."

So, ART had told her. I wanted to argue that she hadn't taken time off after getting kidnapped, and she couldn't make me. It was in the contract, the one I wasn't sticking to anymore because I was getting to know my humans. And ART's humans.

_You're being stubborn._ The transport sounded miffed. _Come back to the lounge and let's watch TV together. I'll be done in no time._

I flipped ART off again. This was none of its business. Shaking my head, I walked away. Maybe it would be nice and let its crew know, maybe not.

Seth waved at me from the airlock door. "Hey! Looks like we're both a little early. Thanks again for doing this for us."

I nodded and managed a smile.

"The others are almost here."

_SecUnit's not feeling well,_ ART said in the feed.

I rolled my eyes and sighed.

Dr. Mensah had followed me and now chatted with Seth. "SecUnit is experiencing a comm array malfunction," she told the other human. I think she had ART figured out. "Please keep an eye on it."

I don't need babysitting. I was grumbling nonsense under my breath when she shook her head at me. "Just be extra careful out there, OK? I know you can take care of yourself, I know." Mensah's face did something complicated that made me feel oddly safe. "But imagine sending a good friend into hostile territory where you know the opposition are high strung assholes. It never gets easier."

I patted her shoulder. It was weird, but it made her smile and that was worth it.

"Of course we will," Seth promised as the rest of his team joined us.

Showtime. 


End file.
